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Offering a solution to the CBA

As the NHL lockout drags on, there will be (and indeed, already have been) many concepts of what a collective bargaining agreement solution could look like. I think it ought to be one that is fair to both sides - by which I mean a deal that includes concessions from both players and owners.

Right now, all the NHL owners are asking for are player concessions, making this (as a former NHLPA executive told me recently) more of an extraction than a negotiation. In response, the players have dug in their heels, leading to the extended staredown the league now faces.

That said, here’s my 11-point plan for a new NHL CBA:

Duration Of Agreement: Seven years.

1. Players’ Hockey-Related Revenue split drops one percentage point in each season of the CBA.
Rather than demanding drastic and immediate clawbacks that make the players’ association bristle, the NHL could allow players to slowly ease into a 50/50 split over the life of the labor deal. The bite of the reduction will sting NHLers less significantly, while still getting the owners their obsessed-over halfsies.
2. Dollar-For-Dollar Luxury Tax implemented, with all funds directed to improving revenue-sharing for small-market teams.
In return for giving up more of the HRR pie, players should receive some acknowledgement from owners they want to be part of the long-term solution to ensure nobody has to endure this lockout disgrace ever again. The way to do that is the way NHLPA executive director Don Fehr suggested in the union’s first CBA proposal: increased revenue sharing via a luxury tax for big-market teams that wish to exceed the cap.

You could be as creative as you want in terms of the particulars of the tax: you could allow teams to go over the cap by, say, 10 percent - but you could also dictate that any one team only can do so every other season through the CBA (or in four out of seven years), so as not to give the big-markets a permanent advantage. Or you could allow it every season.

You also could structure the luxury tax so it serves strictly as a way to keep intact teams that draft and develop properly (rather than continue to force Cup champs like the 2010 Blackhawks to drastically change their lineup) by instituting an NBA style “Larry Bird exception” permitting teams to exceed the cap by a particular percentage so long as they spent that money on players originally drafted by that organization.

Regardless of the final version, a luxury tax is a show of good faith from the owners that they aren’t just pocketing their bigger share of revenue - and it’s also a gift to those successful franchises (or driven owners) who could flex more of their financial muscle.
3. Salary Floor/Ceiling Decided By Percentage.
Critics of the cap often argue the salary minimum should be scrapped altogether to give small-market teams a better chance at profitability. The problem with this is it creates potential for the NHL’s have-not teams to not put a cent of their revenue-sharing monies back into the lineup (the best example can be seen with Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals, whose owners have made those teams glorified feeder systems for big-market franchises).

Instead of doing away altogether with the cap floor, you could calculate it differently. For instance, the expired CBA had a hard-money fixed differential of $16 million for the past seven years, but if you established the cap floor as a percentage of the ceiling, it would give teams much more financial leeway.

Take the differential in 2005-06: the cap ceiling was $39 million and the floor was $23 million; the floor was 58.97 percent of the ceiling. If you applied that same percentage every year instead of the $16 million, you’d be looking at a cap ceiling of $70.2 million and a floor of $41.4 million for the 2012-13 campaign. (Currently, the floor would be $54.2 million.) That change gives much more breathing room to small-market franchises without totally absolving them of a responsibility to invest any foreign aid in the product they claim to care about.

4. Contract Lengths Capped At Seven Years.
There are elements on the players’ side who think there should be no maximum number of years on any given NHL contract. I disagree. Many of these long-term deals become more of an albatross to the player - just ask Wade Redden, Roberto Luongo or Rick DiPietro - than a benefit.

The easy response to capping contract term is it hurts the players, but with the exception of those who suffer long-term injuries, shorter contract terms can add up to more money for many, if not most the league’s top athletes. There’s not as much security, but the tradeoff comes with knowing those NHLers who have extended careers will receive more opportunities to return to the negotiating table and assure themselves of current market value (rather than a below-market pricetag that almost always comes along with a long-term pact).

5. Entry level contracts extended to four years.
The owners’ first proposal wanted rookie contracts to be extended to five years, while the players wish for them to remain at the current three. This is one of those areas where compromise in the middle works.

The owners and GMs still would have to project what a young player will become to some degree after four years, but if that player has given them four years of solid service - or has come on strong and progressed every season - owners should have to recognize that by making a serious investment in their future.

6. Unrestricted Free Agency status remains attainable after seven years.
The owners’ demand that UFA status only be attained after 10 years is preposterous and an abject denial of the reality the average NHLer’s career lasts half that long. If a player has carved out seven years in hockey’s top league - and the owners are getting their 50/50 split - it shouldn’t matter when he gets to decide his future. The status quo works here.

7. A Ban On All No-Trade/No-Movement Clauses.
This factor is important to fans because it opens up the trade market that, for the most part, has been mind-numbingly stagnant. Players will be loathe to give it up, because at a time when teams are leaning on them to take “hometown discounts,” the security of a no-trade clause is one of the few assurances of stability they can get.

But you know what I say to that? In return for giving up veto powers in a trade, players should stop taking hometown discounts. But even if they didn’t want to give up full no-trade clauses, players could compromise here as well: it could be stipulated that players only get to submit a maximum list of five teams they refuse to be traded to. That would stir trade possibilities without robbing players of all their employment options.

8. Full NHL Participation In All Olympic Games.
It’s important to the players, it grows the game, fans adore it. Owners may have logistics problems depending on where the games are located, but just as players have to deal with their logistics problems after giving up full no-trade clauses, owners have to give back in other areas like this one.

9. Mandatory Visors Grandfathered In For All Players.
The NHLPA wants members to decide on eye protection, but I don’t. If the league can insist on forcing players to take less of a cut of revenue, they also can insist on half-shields for all players entering the league. This is long overdue.

10. A Supplemental Discipline panel and tougher punitive measures.
The NHLPA is caught between a rock and a hard place here: they don’t want players hurt and believe cheapshot artists must be made more accountable, but they also don’t want to be bilked for hundreds of thousands of dollars as James Wisniewski was last season - and they definitely don’t want the only appeal process for NHL chief disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan’s rulings to lead to the office of the commissioner who employs Shanahan.

That’s why involved leadership on both sides is necessary; players must realize a safer league means tougher suspensions, and owners must come to terms with giving the players more of a voice - or at least, an appeals process that has real teeth.
11. A standardized, more consistent and meaningful treatment for concussed players.
Most people acknowledge the issue of head injuries in sport will grow in prominence in the years to come. But despite the NHL’s insistence they have drastically improved the way in which they deal with concussions, the reality is there is no standardized response and no league-wide regulations that go far enough.

There needs to be a minimum sit-out period for any concussed player (just as there is in the UFC/Mixed Martial Arts business for other players who punch each other in the head). The same therapeutic options must be made available for players on all teams (something that isn’t a reality now). And there must be more league funds directed to (a) assisting players who have suffered long-term concussion effects and (b) research into the issue.

The players and owners have shown they can be strident as hell when it comes to finance, so they certainly can be just as insistent on a better, safer working environment and post-playing-career quality of life.

Adam Proteau is writer and columnist for The Hockey News and a regular contributor to THN.com. His Power Rankings appear Mondays during the regular season, his column appears Thursdays and his Ask Adam feature Fridays.

For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, subscribe to The Hockey News magazine.

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Power Rankings: Red-hot Blue Jackets still fighting for respect

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Power Rankings: Red-hot Blue Jackets still fighting for respect

The Blue Jackets have been the most pleasant surprise in the NHL this season, but it's still going to take convincing for the hockey world to believe they're for real.

We’ll totally understand if you’re having just a little trouble getting on board with the 2016-17 version of the Columbus Blue Jackets. After all, you’ve probably been burned before.

Their fan base certainly seems to be wary. Despite the fact the Blue Jackets are the surprise of the NHL and have emerged as one of the most dynamic and exciting teams in the league, they drawn fewer than 12,000 in three of their past four home games. Even their coach thinks the team has work to do to earn their fans’ trust. “I want our team to have a chip on their shoulder,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella told Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch recently. “I think they should. We’re trying to get respect in the league. Quite honestly, we should be disrespected because of where we’ve been.”

That won’t last long if the Blue Jackets keep this up. The league’s best power play continues to fuel one of the league’s hottest teams and has landed them at the top of thn.com’s weekly Power Rankings for the second time this season. Last week’s rankings in parentheses:

CREAM OF THE CROP

1. Columbus Blue Jackets (8)

2. Philadelphia Flyers (15)

3. Pittsburgh Penguins (6)

4. St. Louis Blues (2)

5. Chicago Blackhawks (5)

6. Montreal Canadiens (7)

7. New York Rangers (4)

8. San Jose Sharks (11)

9. Boston Bruins (20)

10. Calgary Flames (27)

Is there a bigger bargain or a shrewder off-season signing than Sam Gagner?...Steve Mason went from one of the worst goalies in the NHL early in the season to one of the best of late. His save percentage in his first 16 games was .892, but has improved to .947 in his past five… If Marc-Andre Fleury wants to get traded, he’s not doing himself any favor with his play lately…The Blues completed a 4-0-1 home stand with the game going into overtime…With Jonathan Toews and Corey Crawford already out, the Blackhawks lost defenseman Brent Seabrook in their 4-0 win over Arizona Tuesday night…How will the Canadiens and the surprising Alexander Radulov respond to the injury to Alex Galchenyuk?...The injury-ravaged Rangers saw Rick Nash go down with a groin injury and Matt Puempel to a concussion in their 4-2 loss to the Islanders Tuesday night…Joe Thornton passed Brendan Shanahan for 25th all-time on the NHL’s scoring list with an assist in a 2-1 win over Montreal last week…Anyone who predicted David Pastrnak would be in Rocket Richard Trophy contention a third of the way into the season is looking very bright at the moment…The Flames were already one of the hottest teams in the NHL without Johnny Gaudreau, then won their first two with him back in the lineup.

THE MUSHY MIDDLE

11. Washington Capitals (11)

12. Edmonton Oilers (14)

13. Ottawa Senators (12)

14. Los Angeles Kings (1)

15. New Jersey Devils (23)

16. Detroit Red Wings (16)

17. Nashville Predators (3)

18. Minnesota Wild (19)

19. Anaheim Ducks (10)

20. Winnipeg Jets (17)

Capitals coach Barry Trotz had some pointed words to Alex Ovechkin about his penchant for taking minor penalties of late. No cracks in the foundation, though. Just a frank discussion…The Oilers game Tuesday night against Buffalo was touted as Connor McDavid vs. Jack Eichel, the kind of narrative the Oilers have learned to accept. “Every night it’s Connor vs. Somebody,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan…Goalie Craig Anderson started in the Senators’ 8-5 loss to Pittsburgh Monday night, but did not travel with the team for a three-game California trip to be with his wife as she undergoes treatment for throat cancer…The usually stingy Kings have given up 11 goals in their past three games. “That’s too many goals,” said Kings coach Darryl Sutter…Devils winger Taylor Hall on the aftermath of his clean, but devastating, hit on Philip Larsen Tuesday night: “I feel terrible.” Not to be trite, but Hall should not be feeling terrible about the way he has played since returning from a knee injury. He has five points in his past two games…Goalie Jimmy Howard will be back in uniform for the Red Wings when they host Columbus Friday night, but will have a difficult time pushing Petr Mrazek out of the crease…After missing four games with an upper-body injury, James Neal scored a goal in a 4-3 Predators’ win over Colorado Tuesday night…Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk, whose career was revived when he came to Minnesota, will make his 300th career start tonight in Toronto…Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle could not pull Jonathan Bernier during his team’s 8-3 loss to Calgary because backup John Gibson was battling a stomach virus…Over the past 30 years, only Teemu Selanne and Alex Ovechkin have scored goals at a better pace than Patrik Laine of the Jets is scoring them now.

VYING FOR THE PARTICIPATION BADGE

21. New York Islanders (26)

22. Tampa Bay Lightning (22)

23. Carolina Hurricanes (25)

24. Buffalo Sabres (29)

25. Florida Panthers (24)

26. Vancouver Canucks (18)

27. Toronto Maple Leafs (13)

28. Dallas Stars (28)

29. Arizona Coyotes (21)

30. Colorado Avalanche (30)

With points in each of their past five games, four of them wins, the Islanders are easily on their most successful string of the season…The Lightning could get Ryan Callahan, Jason Garrison and Jonathan Drouin back for their home game against Vancouver Thursday night…Jordan Staal, sidelined for the past four games with a concussion, likely won’t be available to the Hurricanes for a three-game road trip through California that begins tonight…After playing almost 500 games in the minors, defenseman Erik Burgdoerfer made his NHL debut in the Sabres’ 3-2 overtime win over Washington Tuesday night… Panthers have gone to overtime in four of their five games GM Tom Rowe has been behind the bench. They’ve won one in overtime, lost two in OT and one in a shootout…Philip Larsen, who was taken off the ice on a stretcher after a hit from Taylor Hall Tuesday night, was released from hospital in New Jersey Wednesday morning and was cleared to return to Vancouver while the Canucks continue on a five-game road trip…After waiving Jhonas Enroth, the Maple Leafs search for a backup goalie continues. They signed Karri Ramo to a professional tryout contract and assigned him to their farm team. That should cure everything…The Coyotes have been outscored 14-6 and have averaged 41 shots against per game in an 0-3-1 month of December…All nine of Matt Duchene’s goals this season have come on the road. The Avs could use that kind of production at the Pepsi Center, where they’re 4-8-1 this season and recently went 0-4-1 on a five-game homestand.

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Dubnyk carrying Wild and putting together a Vezina-type season

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Dubnyk carrying Wild and putting together a Vezina-type season

How good has Devan Dubnyk been for the Minnesota Wild this season? Well, according to his coach: "If he was in Toronto, there'd be no Carey Price."

It’s nowhere on the scale of grand gestures when compared to the ‘triple low-five’ P.K. Subban and Carey Price used to do at center ice, but Eric Staal and Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild have a rather interesting post-win ritual. At some point, Staal comes to Dubnyk in the dressing room and says, “You looked like you knew what you were doing tonight,” and the two of them bump fists. “I appreciate that,” is Dubnyk’s response. “I’m just trying to trick everybody just a little bit longer.”

But the fact of the matter is, Dubnyk is not tricking anyone. He’s playing in the best league in the world, one where posers and phonies get exposed pretty quickly. And he’s not only playing, he’s been a dominant force for the Wild this season. Among goalies with a minimum of eight appearances this season, no goalie matches Dubnyk’s .946 save percentage or his 1.65 goals-against average. His four shutouts also leads the league. With 35 saves in a 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night, Dubnyk was a winner in his 300th career start.

Them’s Vezina numbers. And Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, who knows a good sound bite when he sees one, had a pretty bold proclamation when it came to Dubnyk’s status among his brethren in the NHL this season. “If he was in Toronto, there’d be no Carey Price,” Boudreau said. “I’m just saying media-wise. I mean, he hasn’t allowed more than three goals in any game he’s played this year. He’s held us in. It was 17-3 in shots in the third period and they didn’t get any.”

Much has been made of Dubnyk’s renaissance since he adopted a technique known as head trajectory, which in its simplest terms, is tracking the puck with your head instead of your eyes. Before Dubnyk started doing it, he was out of the NHL, skating as a Black Ace as the Montreal Canadiens fourth goaltender in the playoffs. Since then, he’s been an elite goaltender in the NHL and he’s being paid like one on the second year of a six-year deal worth $26 million.

And there might be a reason for that. The past couple of seasons, teams have collapsed in front of their nets more than ever, leaving a bunch of bodies from both teams in the way. In those instances, tracking those pucks has become more important than ever. “You have to pick and choose when I’m going to use my height to find pucks and when I’m going to need to get low,” Dubnyk said. “I think it’s more on the rebounds when those pucks do get through or if they hit shin pads. If you can look first, you’re eliminating moves that don’t seem to happen and you’re just more efficient. I always say it should look relatively boring when I’m back there.”

The ability to self-analyze quickly and adapt also helps. Case in point was the goal scored by Tyler Bozak, who pounced on a turnover, then undressed Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba before firing a backhander over Dubnyk’s shoulder. Dubnyk was clearly upset with himself after the goal, but instead of falling apart, he steeled his resolve and completely shut the door on the Maple Leafs.

“That goal goes in and I give myself a quick talking to and I realize that’s not my best way to stop a puck and move on,” Dubnyk said. “And just make sure I do it properly the next time.” And for a guy who sees the ice so well, Dubnyk didn’t notice the shaft of Mitch Marner’s broken stick in front of him for the longest time. In fact, it wasn’t until Ben Smith scored. “Was that the stick or the ice? It hit something,” Dubnyk said. “I actually think it was the ice. I’ll have to watch the replay, but it skipped hard.”

Three years ago, when Dubnyk went from Edmonton to Nashville to Montreal in one season and finished in the American League, those kinds of goals would have destroyed him. But that summer, Dubnyk signed with the Phoenix Coyotes and joined Mike Smith, who was plucked off the same scrap heap as Dubnyk a couple of years before. Then came the trade to Minnesota, then he saved their season, got a big contract and hasn’t looked in the rearview mirror…except to appreciate what he has now.

“It’s a position that’s extremely mental and when things start to pile up, it’s not a position you can play if you’re second guessing what you’re doing,” Dubnyk said. “It just doesn’t work. It doesn’t work for anybody. That whole year that seemed like forever, I always believed I’d get another shot somewhere. I’ve said it before, but it just allowed me to be grateful that I have a job in the best league in the world.”

Blackhawks emergency backup Eric Semborski gets his own rookie card

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Blackhawks emergency backup Eric Semborski gets his own rookie card

Eric Semborski landed himself the opportunity of a lifetime when he strapped on the pads as an emergency backup for the Blackhawks, and now Topps has commemorated the moment with a Semborski trading card.

Eric Semborski’s dream came true when he stepped on the ice as an NHL goaltender, albeit an emergency backup, on Dec. 3, and now he’s got an incredible piece of memorabilia to show for it.

Just days after the 23-year-old made his rookie debut, trading card company Topps has unveiled the official Eric Semborski rookie card. That’s right: the 23-year-old has his very own trading card. The card is part of Topps’ NOW series, which features milestone or memorable moments and are made available shortly after the achievement.

Semborski’s stint as the Blackhawks emergency goaltender came due to regular starting netminder Corey Crawford was sent to hospital to undergo an appendectomy. The Blackhawks were scrambling to find a replacement for Crawford, and a backup for Scott Darling, when they started asking around to find an emergency amateur netminder to fill in.

Semborski, a former goaltender at Temple University, was working with children at the Flyers’ practice facility when he was called to sign on for emergency duty. Hilariously, Semborski wore a Blackhawks No. 50 jersey — which most will recognize as Crawford’s number — when he took the ice for warmup. Of the chance to stop NHL shots in warmup, Semborski said it was the best moment of his life.

Possibly the only thing that could have made the moment better was if Semborski actually got into the game and, as it turns out, that was very nearly the case. Post-game, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said that had the Flyers scored on the empty net to stretch their lead in the Saturday afternoon contest, he would have thrown Semborski into the net for the final minute of the outing.

As for the card, there’s no chance it will be worth anything near what a Connor McDavid rookie card will be worth in a decade, but it’s certainly a nice piece of merchandise for the one-day NHL netminder.

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Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin has turned into quite the find, and on Wednesday he flashed some uncanny offensive awareness and skill with a creative skate pass to set up a power play goal.

It’s taken all of one full season for Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin to go from NCAA standout to top-pairing rearguard in the NHL, but much of that has to do with his ability in his own end.

Don’t take that to mean Slavin can’t make something out of seemingly nothing on offense, though.

During Wednesday’s meeting between the Hurricanes and Ducks, Slavin was manning the point on a power play late in the first frame. As the puck was worked back to Justin Faulk, Slavin retreated back to give his partner a passing option, and when the puck came across the line, it was headed to Slavin’s backhand side, meaning he would have had to slow it and settle it in order to make a play. Instead, he used his feet.

Slavin, in a brilliant display of skill, opened up his stance, let the puck glance off of his right skate and deflected the puck perfectly into Teuvo Teravainen’s wheelhouse. Watch him finish the clever play off with a rocket of a one-timer:

That’s a thing of beauty from start to finish.

As mentioned, Slavin isn’t exactly known for his ability to produce with the puck on his stick, but he is well on his way to surpassing his rookie season output. He notched two goals and 20 points in 63 games during the 2015-16 campaign, and is on pace for three goals and 25 points this year, already with one marker and eight points to his name.

What Slavin brings to the Hurricanes definitely goes beyond his offense, though. In Wednesday’s game, a tough 6-5 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks, Slavin skated more than 28 minutes. It was his season high, but just one of seven games in which he has seen more than 25 minutes of ice time. The only player averaging more ice than Slavin is Justin Faulk, and that’s by a mere two seconds per game.